Quilting with George

The one class I took this year at Maine Quilts was with George Siciliano. If you are not familiar with him, you must check out his website here and view the Gallery. George is a former US Marine Drum and Bugle Corps member in Washington D.C. who now resides near Hershey Pennsylvania. He took up quilting in 1997 and shares his wife's sewing space. George decided to specialize in variations of the Log Cabin block because he saw endless design possibilities, and currently has over 150 different variations on his computer data base. Virginia (often referred to as "The Saint" for allowing George in her sewing studio) is a hand quilter and delights in teaching others this skill. They teach classes together and everyone enjoyed their humorous banter.



George was happy to share a number of his very small miniatures with us. This is one of his most recent, made for competition. It is called Dusk a l'Orange and the primary fabric is dupioni silk. It is about 12.5" square and has 4210 pieces!! Very impressive indeed!








Seven Twisters is a modified hexagon twisted Log Cabin block - each block has 193 pieces, for a total of 1351 pieces in the entire quilt.












Crop Circles was one of my favorites- it is a Log Cabin Pineapple variation and measures 15.5" by 21" and has 2842 pieces!! George was asked to sell this one- the lady offered him $10.00 and wanted him to make 5 more for a set of 6 placemats!!! Hilarious!






A View From the Pew (below) reminds one of a stained glass window in church. It is 11.25 " square and contains 2196 pieces! It is a Log Cabin Court House Steps variation.
You can see some of George's other Miniatures in his Gallery on the website. The pattern we worked on in class is called Bird of Paradise. The block is of course a Log Cabin variation, and is triangular. It will be awhile before I get back to work on it, as I have other projects not so patiently waiting for my return.... But you will see it some day, I promise! I think I may change my color choices before I proceed any further on it... I thoroughly enjoyed George's class and find his patent pending Seam Allowance Guide/Ruler very helpful. It was included with our pattern and fabric kit for the class and I must admit I was skeptical at first. But it is a great little tool and I can see using it when making my Minis...

My travel buddy Karen Henry took a class with Vikki Pignatelli and she thoroughly enjoyed her class as well. They explored a number of fabric manipulation techniques.At right is Vikki's quilt from the Teacher's exhibit, titled Passages of the Spirit.

Piece,
Linda

Every quilter has a masterpiece within.